Gary Kingston
LONDON – It’s four years later, a new Paralympic Games and new goals for Diane Roy.
But for the wheelchair racer out of Sherbrooke, Que., there is no forgetting the “injustice” of what happened to her in Beijing.
A paraplegic since the age of 17 after an ATV crash, Roy, now 41 and newly engaged, looked to have won her first Paralympic gold medal in the T54 5,000 metres. A medal ceremony was held and she shed tears of joy as O Canada was played.
“You sleep with the medal . . . you have hours to feel the emotion.”
But in an unprecedented decision, the International Paralympic Committee ordered a re-race after three countries launched protests as a result of a massive crash involving six of the 11 competitors, including the three medalists from Athens, on the penultimate lap of the 12 lap race.
The second time around, Roy had to settle for silver behind American Amanda McGrory.
“You never forget,” the personable, blonde-haired Roy said Tuesday in her accented English. “Something happen, or somebody talk to you about Beijing, so it comes back, maybe every month.
“I will never forget for many reasons. It was my first gold medal and I lost it. It was Beijing, it was big crash and it was injustice. I hope nothing will happen like that [this time.]”
Her long-time coach, Jean Laroche, said he reviewed that race Monday on the IPC website.
“I have goose bump when I’m looking at that race. She got that gold medal for a week in her pocket and then they say ‘oh, give us back that medal.’ It was a shame.”
Roy, who earned two bronze at Athens in 2004 and finished with a silver and two bronze in 2008, for years raced in the considerable shadow of Canadian superstar Chantal Petitclerc, the 14-time Paralympic gold medalist who also competed in the T54 class.
Petitclerc is now retired, but the path to the top step of the podium for Roy, who set a world record time of 11 minutes, 16.96 seconds in the 5,000 in 2010, still looks as busy as a rush-hour traffic jam. The T54 women’s field is one of the deepest on the track with Americans McGrory, 26, and Tatyana McFadden, 23, Shelley Woods, 26, of Great Britain and a quartet of young Swiss and Chinese racers all capable of being in the medals.
“You have 10 racers for the [5,000] final, maybe seven-eight people can do a podium,” said Roy, who will also race the 400, 8,000, 1,500 and marathon. “They are younger than me, but I am strong. I have good chance for every race. We’ll see.”
Laroche says Roy is at the same level she was at in 2008 and that “should allow her to be on the podium, but it won’t be easy.
“The pack of ladies there is stronger than it was before. Never so many women at that level at the same time. Everybody but Chantal is back and the Chinese now are moving slowly to the longer distance as well. Diane does not have the talent of some other athletes, but she is a hard worker and very professional.”
The 5,000 fiasco wasn’t Roy’s only mis-adventure in Beijing. She had a slight lead in the marathon as the racers came into the main stadium. But inexplicably, on a 90-degree turn off a slight downhill into the last 500 metres, she tipped over.
“It’s never happened before in a road race or whatever, but it happens in Beijing,” said Roy, who needed help to get upright and finished eighth, 38 seconds behind the winner. “So that was my second bad, but this one was my fault. For sure, that was another medal, maybe gold, but I crash by myself.”
Roy, dubbed the Warhorse by the Canadian Paralympic Committee in its Super Athlete ad campaign, says she will finally “slow down a little bit” after London, but won’t rule out Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“In [the last] six months, I was at home for one month. A lot of competition, a lot of travel. That’s hard. I don’t know if I will be there in four years.”
It might well depend on whether she earns a gold medal she can keep this time around.
gkingston@vancouversun.com